Five-Fathom Fur-Trade Canoe From Brunswick House, one of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company posts. 



Hudson's Bay Company took over this was not allowed 

 and discipline became far more harsh. As a result, 

 the French Canadians deserted the trade, to be re- 

 placed with Indians and halfbreeds. The paddling 

 race against time, to reach the destination before the 

 fall freeze, was labor comparable to that of a galley 

 slave, but in a very harsh climate. Altogether, if 

 the brutal truth is accepted, the life of the canoeman 

 was far more hardship than romance. 



The cargo of a fur-trade canoe was not placed 

 directly on the bottom; light cedar or spruce poles 

 were first laid in the bottom of the canoe and then 

 the cargo loaded aboard. The poles prevented 

 damage to the canoe by any undue concentration of 

 weight. The weight of cargo carried varied with the 

 size of the canoe and with the conditions of the canoe 

 route. The canoes were usually loaded deeply, except 

 in the case of the light express canoe, in which the 

 cargo was reduced for sake of rapid travelling. 



An account written in 1800 by Alexander Henry 

 the younger gives the following list of cargo in a trade 

 canoe on the run to Red River in the Northwest, 

 where canoes under 4}i fathoms were generally used: 

 General trade merchandise, 5 bales; tobacco, 1 bale 

 and 2 rolls; kettles, 1 bale or basket; guns, 1 case; 

 hardware, 1 case; lead shot, 2 bags; flour, 1 bag; 

 sugar, 1 keg; gunpowder, 2 kegs; wine, 10 kegs. This 

 totaled 28 pieces: in addition the crew had 4 bales 

 (1 for each paddler) of private property, 4 bags of 

 corn of 1 }^ bushels each, and ]i keg of "grease," 

 plus bedrolls and the canoe gear. The trade goods 

 carried to the posts included such items as canoe awls, 

 axes, shot, gunpowder, gun tools, brass wire, flints 

 (or, later, percussion caps), lead, beads, brooches, 

 blankets, combs, coats, firesteels, finger rings, guns, 

 spruce gum, garters, birch bark, powder-horns or 

 cartridge boxes, hats, kettles and pans, knives, fish 

 line, hooks, net twine, looking glasses, needles, ribbons. 



144 



